Rating : Average (3/5)
Genre : Comedy
Year : 2005
Director : S. Sreenivasa Rao
Cast : Kamal Haasan, Vijay Raaz, Manisha Koirala, Master Hardik, Om Puri, Saurabh Shukla, Pratima Kazmi, Sharat Saxena
Mumbai Express : Comedy of errors !
Digamber and his 2 cronies, are small-time crooks planning to kidnap the son of a rich businessman Mehta (Saurabh shukla), to extort a ransom from him. The plan is to kidnap the child from the playgrounds of his school, using a crane. The night before the kidnapping is to take place, one of the gang members, the lift operator lands in hospital with a stomach ulcer. A new lift operator is needed for the plan to succeed. On their hospitalised friend’s wife’s (Pratima Kazmi) advice, the remaining 2 now rope in her brother, Avinash also know as Mumbai Express, to do the job. Good-hearted Avinash, a motor-cycle stuntman in a circus/mela, is simple, brave and uses a hearing aid.
On the way to the site of kidnapping, the threesome are involved in an accident, delivering the 3rd member out of action. But Avinash and Digamber forge ahead, and do manage to kidnap the child. However, they kidnap the wrong child. This kid Daddoo (Hardik) is the illegitimate son of ACP Rao (Om Puri) and his mistress, ex-bar-dancer Ahilya (Koirala). Deathly afraid of the police when he discovers this, Digamber wants to kill the child, but Avinash won’t let it happen….
The film is enjoyable, with confusion abounding, and comedic situations galore. The story is nuanced to achieve maximum effect, like the money/hand-eating horse owned by one of Digamber’s friends. Avinash’s hearing defect is also used to create funny situations. Although acting on the whole is good, Koirala could have done better in terms of acting and Kamal Haasan looks too old for the part. Master Hardik is a non-actor. The latter half of the movie appears a bit convoluted with some scenes recieving inadequate treatment. Music is average.
All-in-all, a decent enough comedy.
